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More Super3 history to be made at Winton
Winton Motor Raceway has been a staple of the Dunlop Super3 series for much of the categories’ history.
The circuit, located just outside of Benalla in country Victoria, has seen 10 visits by the category in either its previous V8 Touring Cars or current Super3 guise.
The circuit has had a tendency to throw up unpredictable results and wild racing across the journey.
Image Racing boss Terry Wyhoon won the series’ inaugural Winton round in 2009 driving an AU Falcon, an event that would kick off a sequence of six-straight wins by the Blue Oval in Super3 competition at the venue.
After Wyhoon, Tony Evangelou (2010 and 2013), Josh Hunter (2012), Ryan Simpson (2014) and Alex Rullo (2015) all won for Ford at Winton.
It wasn’t until a Taz Douglas cameo in 2016 saw Holden take their first Super3 win at the circuit, backed up by Jack Smith the following two years.
Smith, of course, was driving for the Albury-based Brad Jones Racing team who call the Winton circuit home.
Rullo’s 2015 victory was a notable achievement, the then-15 year old West Australian winning his first ever race and round at the circuit that year, becoming the youngest ever winner of a top-level Australian Touring Car race in the process.
Ford holds sway when it comes to Winton pole positions, too, though the margin is closer when it comes to the Red-vs-Blue battle; Ford has started on top on six occasions to Holden’s four at the venue.
A look through the record books shows how rapidly the pace of the Super3 grid has improved over the years; Steve Owen’s 1m25.7991s best to secure pole position in 2009 (driving a VX Commodore) comprehensively beaten by 2019 pole man Hamish Ribarits; the Falcon driver’s 1m22.2193s best more than three seconds quicker.
Former series champion Tony Evangelou, Ryan Simpson and Jack Smith share the most wins at Winton with four each, while seven drivers have won multiple times and 16 of them at least once.
While Ribarits’ holds the qualifying record at Winton for Super3 cars, inclement conditions and hectic racing in the 2019 event saw the lap record remain untroubled on Super3s last visit.
Instead, Taz Douglas claims ownership of the Winton race lap record benchmark, his 1m23.3446s benchmark set on his way to victory in 2016.
A strong 18-car field will tackle this weekend’s second round of the 2019 Dunlop Super3 series, which includes the return of Brad Jones Racing to the fold.
Action gets underway on Friday with practice, before qualifying and races on each of Saturday and Sunday to complete the round.
The action across the weekend will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports.